An enginet is a functional framework of content, community, commerce and code designed and built around a theme and often a set of rules, but within which users can do whatever they want, and are often encouraged to. It is a “networked engine of engagement.”
Google is a search engine. eLance is a freelance work engine. eBay is an auction engine. Match.com is a dating engine. Kazaa, Morpheus and Napster are file-swapping engines. World of Warcraft is a game engine, or virtual universe engine. Facebook and Linked-In are social networking engines. Wireless SMS is a text messaging engine. The list goes on and on.
All started small and simple; and grew larger and more complex. All were adopted by users on their own terms, and had an intrinsic function that caused users to use it more, and to encourage other users to use it. To call these sites/services “communities” is not enough. To call them a “marketplace” also leaves meaning and opportunity on the table. Some are differentiated by patented technology (like Google search engine), others by superior execution (Amazon shopping engine). But often, that differentiator is more elusive: craigslist.org is local enginet. It brings people together for a variety of reasons—commercial and otherwise. It is more function, than form. In fact, some would argue its form is remedial—it is a simple hypertext-driven interface. It offers only function, really—an engine for local exchanges of every kind—yet that function is compelling enough to make it the 20nd most popular site on the internet.[1]
As stated, enginets are combinations of content, community, commerce and code—a framework within which users do what they choose. eBay doesn’t tell their users what to buy and sell (or didn’t use to, anyway), they simply create the mechanism—the engine—to allow users to buy/sell whatever they want. eLance doesn’t tell suppliers of services what to supply, nor buyers of services what to buy. Match.com (#185 on the entire internet) doesn’t decide who dates whom, or what a dater puts in their profile, or how a date turned out… yet its function serves to outperform mega-media companies hbo.com (#1596) and cbs.com (#459) in internet reach (unduplicated monthly users).
Some enginets are not designed to make money. Some should have been (Napster and any of a number of file-swapping and social networking sites/services come to mind). There is a specific methodology for building Enginets, Inc., a method that provides the greatest opportunity for success.
[1] compete.com, January 2008
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